Feather: Quick Facts

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Photos and Videos

Illustration of a bird feather highlighting its main parts: the central shaft (rachis), quill at the base, and barbs branching from the shaft. Insets show close-ups of barbs with interlocking barbules and hooks.

Hawaiian royal cloak made of netting into which feathers are knotted.

basic body feather tracts on a generalized songbird

Illustration of Caudipteryx, an extinct feathered dinosaur, showing a small, birdlike creature with a beaked face, feathered body, short arms with wing-like feathers, and a fan of tail feathers.

development of a down feather

Learn about the feathered dinosaurs of the Middle Jurassic Epoch

Did Dinosaurs Really Have Feathers?

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Topics

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